Tag: spring

After driving down South for the better part of the day yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that Spring has finally arrived. All the daffodils were a riot of color. The redbud trees were beginning to bloom, along with the crab apple and plum. And the forsythia! Oh the forsythia!

And while I’ve been awakening from my winter rest and slowly coming to life, I realize it’s almost May. And May is the month when I have my yearly Aunt Mayme’s Attic May Sale.

It will start tomorrow, May 1, and run through May 15. Twenty percent off everything in my Etsy shop if you use a coupon code called MAYME20. I’m ready, at least I think I am. Have been sewing up a storm. You should see the two red dogwood pillows I made; used an old card table tablecloth. Beautiful red background and the grey and white dogwood is printed on the front. They would look great on a porch.

And the beautiful tiger lily in pink! Won’t show them here, because I want them to be a surprise. But watch for them in my Etsy shop. Hopefully I’ll have them sold before Laurel Festival next month. I think I’m “done” with the pillows for now.

And I did make a handbag; a sweet blue and white polka dot. Elegant and pretty. Even down to the batten berg lace linen on the front.

And I’ve made my staple, hanky soap sachets. After looking at sachets that are stitched shut, making the envelope unusable after the lavender dissipates, I thought I’d create my own design and leave mine open, using soap as the scent. The best thing is you can remove the soap and use the envelope for something else. Here are a couple I have yet to post:

Hanky Soap Sachet with Oatmeal Honey Soap

Oatmeal and honey goats milk hanky soap sachet. The soothing scent of oatmeal and honey; light and airy, just like Spring! I’ll have some more in lavender, and a couple in a flower shop scent mixture of carnation, rose, lilac, gardenia and another scent I’m not sure of.

Being out in the yard today, I heard all the birds of spring. After the awfully cold winter and now 80+ degree temps during the day, it’s no wonder that everything has “blossomed”. It’s a sound to behold when you can hear all the birds and their songs. The robins with their “what’s wrong with me” chirp. The cardinals with their echoing call. The wrens with their noisy chatter. The catbird with its warning call of a kitten in distress. And of course, the woodpecker.

To hear a woodpecker tapping away on a log or tree, is like a drum in the chorus of other bird songs. Some of you may be familiar with these birds who tap into old logs, wooden siding on houses, or wood fence posts. The rap-tap-tap of their “song” seems to stand out among the others. And when they go after siding, fence posts and other objects, they aren’t hoping to find bugs; they are looking for a mate.

Did you know that the male woodpecker finds a mate by the sound of his tap? Oh yes. A soon-to-be Mrs. Woody is enthralled by the sound of Mr. Woody’s efforts. And this spring certainly has its desperate males. Hoping to hear the rap-tap-tap on an old maple in my yard, which is usually the hangout of most male woodpeckers, what I heard instead was a loud banging noise. And then, I remembered….

A few years ago a male decided that the road sign along my road was the best object to capture his mate. He sat on that sign for several days–rapping and tapping. He could be heard only in the morning, possibly so as to get his business done with early. He would tap so incredibly loud that I would appeal to the females in the area by saying, “Please! Someone find him before his head falls off!” And eventually some female would be so enamored with the sound, she’d fly on over and off they’d go. But this year, it was different.

Instead of the road sign, this male (or one of his understudy) decided it would be a good idea to rap-tap-tap on the galvanized bucket I have next to my hand well. See photos below. Do you think he went after the small one on the left? Oh no. This was one smart Woody, and he wanted to be a daddy early. He went after the biggest one, and it had a little water in it, making the sound even louder.

After a couple of minutes of this, he stopped. And when I tried to take a picture, he flew off. Maybe to find some Advil for his head. Or, hopefully, that female was close by and felt sorry for him, and is now nursing his sore head.